Financial Times

Companies and individuals are looking to the British Council (BC), for more than just English lessons and advice on education in Britain these days.

In line with the acceptance of globalisation, more effort is being put into boosting management skills to better telephone etiquette.

The course introduced by the BC was a result of being approached, putting them together when possible, with the relevant trainers being brought in for the jobs.

So how long has BC been offering the professional skills workshops? According to Nishani Perera, Assistant Registrar at BC’s Teaching Centre, for four to five years, with the last two showing an increase in company requests for tailor-made courses on specific topics.

“It all really began with requests. Companies came to us asking for tailor-made courses covering specific needs. A lot of it was initially for English language lessons, but we then began to get asked for more specific classes. With the success of these courses we started offering them to the general public,” she said.

The courses on offer range from negotiation skills to report writing to team working, among others, where it could be a day course or one lasting three.

“Ideally the people attending should be up to intermediate English standards, but as the courses don’t go into too much depth those with a good gist of the language can come along.

There is also a good mix of theory and practical, with a lot of role playing thrown in, thus making it more fun for those taking part, rather than being taught in a parrot fashion,” Ms. Perera said, adding that the trainers encourage the students to contribute in classes. And what about those trainers? “There are normally around five for the number of courses we are offering this quarter. In general we get requests for particular topics and we work to turn such requests into the real thing; once things look in order, and the particular company is happy, we then go about the process of getting the relevant trainers in.

They usually come for the specific quarter, say from Singapore,” the registrar said.

The courses open to the public are just the next step it seems to enhance social skills felt needed to help further that person in his or her work. Plus it seems people are keen as they are asking for more diversity, such as learning public speaking skills. “And we are trying to meet these needs”, Ms. Perera said.